Means for continuously blending miscible materials



J. A. HAUSS Aug. 12, 1969 MEANS FOR CONTINUOUSLY BLENDING MISCIBLEMATERIALS Filed Feb. 13, 1968 FIG. 5.

IN VENTOR. JO S EPH A. HA USS- ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,460,809 MEANS FOR CONTINUOUSLY BLENDING MISCIBLEMATERIALS Joseph A. Hauss, Gwynedd View, RD. 1, North Wales, Pa. 19454Filed Feb. 13, 1968, Ser. No. 705,151 Int. Cl. B01f 13/00; F161 11/12US. Cl. 259-4 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION Field of the invention Means have heretofore been proposed forcontinuously blending miscible liquids by passing them through chamberscontaining baffies of different sizes, shapes and disposition and whilethese may be reasonably satisfactory for blending the liquids for whichthey are designed they prove inadequate when liquids having differentproperties, especially viscosities, are presented to them while they arewholly inappropriate for blending materials other than liquids, and itis therefore an object of the present invention to provide continuousblending means in which the paths of flowing or moving materials may beshaped and intermingled appropriately for most effective blending, andfor attainment with comparable effectiveness of blending of materialshaving different properties, especially liquids having differences inviscosity, as well as gases and, if desired, cornminuted solids, thelatter usually being carried in fluid streams of air or gas, or inliquids, or by gravity.

The prior art In continuous blenders for miscible liquids it hasheretofore been the practice to provide intersecting channels of more orless sinuous contour through which the liquids to be mixed have beenpassed by gravity or under pressure and these, while reasonably adequatefor mixing liquids of predetermined viscosity, particularly when theviscosities of the several liquids are substantially the same, do notrespond readily to introduction of other viscosities and hence lack theuniversality of utility desired for apparatus of this character and havenot been widely accepted in industry. Comminuted solids, moreover, haveheretofore usually been mixed in batch operations by mechanical mixerswhile I am unaware that any apparatus has heretofore been suggested forcontinuously homogeneously blending together streams of gaseous fluids.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention comprehends provision of adisposable flexible tubular conduit, means associated therewith fordeforming the conduit, and hence the passage it defines, to separate thelatter in effect into series of short, interconnected contiguouspassages disposed about a common longitudinal axis but each rotationallyoffset from the corresponding passage in its adjacent series usually atabout 90 of are relatively to said axis, together with means forintroducing a plurality of miscible materials into one 3,460,809Patented Aug. 12, 1969 ice end of the conduit whereby during theirtransit of the everal subdivisional passages the ingredients arethoroughly intermingled and transformed to a true homogeneous mixturenotwithstanding initial differences in vis cosity, specific gravity orother properties, this mechanical mixing insuring complete blending ofinitial dissim ilar liquids, gases or comminuted solids as the case maybe, in any desired proportions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the accompanying drawing:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary diagrammatic top plan view of a preferredembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary section on line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary top plan view of a modified embodiment of themixing unit constituting a component of the apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a section on line 4-4 in FIG. 3; and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are views generally corresponding to FIGS. 3 and 4 butillustrating a further modification of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The apparatus illustrated inFIG. 1 comprises a flexible tube 1 preferably disposable and made of achemically relatively inert elastic and hence relatively deformablesynthetic plastic; enclosing it through a major portion of its length isa bifurcated relatively rigid tube 2 beyond the ends of which the endsof tube 1 project in opposite directions, tube 2 carrying adjustingscrews 3 hereinafter more fully described. End. clamps 4 secure theparts 2a, 2b of tube 2 together in embracing to tube 1 with which theyare coaxial, or other appropriate securing means may be employedtherefore if desired.

Connected to tube 1 at one end is a manifold fitting 5 pressure intotube 1, the pumps diagrammatically illustrated being merely typical ofsuch means and susceptible of being replaced by any others suitable forattaining the same results, their numbers usually corresponding to thenumber of ingredients to be mixed. When gases are to be mixed, forexample argon and carbon dioxide to form an inert gaseous shield aboutweldments in the course of their formation the constituent gases areusually supplied in containers under pressure and in such cases ofcourse no pumps or other impelling means for the ingredients arenormally required.

Hence, with the principal components arranged as above described, andthe free end 1a of tube 1 disposed to discharge the mixture ofingredients into a suitable receptacle, conduit or other vessel providedto receive it, pumps 6, 7 or other ingredient supplying means areactivated to introduce the separate ingredients preferably in continuousstreams to tube 1. Adjusting screws 3 disposed in axiallly aligned pairslengthwise of tube 2 and threaded into the walls of the latter projectinto its interior and thus into impingement against tube 1 and areadjusted to constrict tube 1 between the screws of each pair at axiallyspaced points and in planes removed from the planes, respectively, ofadjacent pairs of screws 3 whereby the interior passage defined by tube1 is deformed, in this instance substantially into separate contiguouspassages 8, 9 which may be joined at a waist 9 or be relativelycompletely separated when screws 3 are adjusted to constrict tube 1 evenmore severely than as illustrated in FIG. 2.

In any event, since each pair of screws 3 constricts the passage throughtube 1 for a short distance axially of the tube and in a plane angularlyoffset, preferably 90, from the plane of an adjacent pair and theingredients passing through the tube are thus constrained to followsinuous and relatively intertwined continuous paths, they becomecompletely, homogeneously and thoroughly mixed together. The mixtureissuing from the tube after passing through a number of the constrictedzones, six in the examples shown although if preferred a larger orsmaller number may be employed, thus has a uniform homogeneouscomposition without cells or portions predominantly composed of one oranother of the original ingredients, and in the proportions delivered.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 springclips are employed to constrict flexible tube 1', each clip beingpreferably disposed as shown in angular relation to an adjacent clip.These clips are desirably capable of completely flattening tube 1 whenno internal pressure is being exerted within the tube and are preferablyrestrained from doing so by stop rods 11 which may extend through anumber of the clips to overcome the bias of springs 10a of the latteragainst their opposed jaws 10b to afiord restricted passages for thefluid past the clips. Hence the combined ingredients are projected incontiguous flat jets through each constriction of tube 1' into a zone inwhich another constriction is soon encountered having its major planenormal to that of the preceding one. The components of the steam arethus in effect forced into homogeneous mixture whether six or any othernumber of clips 10, not less than two, be employed. Usually fewer thansix of the clips results in mixtures not entirely homogeneous, althoughsome relatively non-viscous components having closely similar densitiesmay be adequately blended when fewer than six of the clips are employed.

As another embodiment of the invention I have illustrated in FIGS. 5 and6 a tube 1 similar to tube 1, 1 but having associated with it clamps 12comprising adjusting screws 13, 14 and jaws 15, in this instancetriangular in shape although their precise shape is a matter of choice.The jaws 15 are preferably adjusted to embrace tube 1" in such a manneras to provide keyhole shaped passages 16 in the tube, one beingillustrated in FIG. 6 but with adjacent ones having their major axes atright angles to those of their neighbors omitted.

It will be evident from the foregoing that the apparatus described, inthe several embodiments illustrated as well as others, may be utilizedfor blending together or mixing substantially any material which can beconveyed in substantially continuous streams, and that not only liquids,but gaseous fluids, slurries and finely divided solids, the latterusually entrained in streams of fluids, either gaseous or liquid, may bemixed together in the apparatus and in accordance with the principles ofmy invention.

While I have herein shown and described certain embodiments of thelatter it will be understood I do not desire or intend to be therebylimited or confined thereto in any way as other embodiments thereof andchanges in the form, structure and relationship of the parts of theapparatus and in its effect upon the materials introduced into itwhatever be the quantity of each in relation to that of the others aswell a in the operations to which said materials are subjected willreadily occur to those skilled in the art and may be utilized if desiredwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as definedin the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for blending miscible materials comprising a flexible tube,means for continuously introducing the materials into one end of thetube, and means for deforming the tube in a plurality of axially spacedzones, the deforming means causing the tube to assume at each zone aconfiguration symmetrical about an axis perpendicular to thelongitudinal axis of the tube, the successive, corresponding,perpendicular axes in each of said zones being disposed at differentangles measured about the axis of the tube, whereby the interior of thetube defines a non-rectilinear passage for contiguous streams of saidmaterials thereby blending said streams into a single homogeneousstream.

2. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said deforming meanscomprise a relatively rigid substantially cylindrical tube surroundingsaid flexible tube and a plurality of pressure exerting mean threadedinto the walls of said relatively rigid tube and into impingementagainst said flexible tube at axial intervals to deform said tube in aplurality of non-parallel zones.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which said deforming meanscomprise a plurality of pairs of opposed jaws embracing the flexibletube, and yielding means biasing the jaws of each pair together, theplane of bias of the jaws of each pair being disposed angularly to theplane of bias of an adjacent pair of jaws with respect to the tube axis,each of said jaws extending transversely of the tube and cooperatingwith the other jaw of its pair to substantially flatten the tube.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10/1919 La Boiteaux 13838 11/1962Westbrook 259-2 US. Cl. X.R. l383 8

